10 Books for Women’s History Month!

Hello!

I don’t normally do these types of posts based on the books I’ve read, mainly because I am notoriously picky. I am awful at it! You should see how I react when I create my favorite books of the year. I always end up enjoying the overall post but making that list is always a hurdle. How are you with choosing your favorites? Does it cause you as much stress as me?

Despite this, I wanted to give you an array of books to check out in the future. I have five books for fiction and nonfiction readers. I wanted you to have a choice – I’d also like to say, you should at least try one of them because you might be surprised in the end.

Now that is done, let’s start on the nonfiction, shall we?

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I am a HUGE fan of nonfiction, and oddly enough I enjoy reading about women the most. I love the story behind these legendary people, but I can also be very stubborn when it comes to reading nonfiction in general. Sometimes nonfiction can be a little boring, which is why I don’t have as many books as I’d like to! I tend to lose interest quickly, because I am so used to have an exciting story line that I just skim through it unfortunately. However, all of the books I’ve listed below were part of the lucky bunch because I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about these ladies, my sisters in history.

Women of Scotland by Helen Susan Swift

This is more of a reference book, as it goes through centuries of women living in Scotland. I actually did enjoy myself, it helped me tremendously to feel some pride for my Scottish roots, which is exactly why I bought it in the first place. I didn’t want to hear about William Wallace or Robert the Bruce, I wanted to know about my aunts and sisters instead. I wish there were books like this focusing on the women in every country. It would truly help other modern women like me, who we are and how we can grow out of society’s expectation of women in general.

One of my favorite women included in the book was Helen Gloag. She was a strong and independent woman, who unfortunately got caught and was sadly sold into slavery in Morocco, until she was presented to the sultan of that time and was made his wife, plus Empress of Morocco. Sadly, after her husband dies, she is removed from her position, she is banished and disappears completely. I thought her story was amazing, as she wasn’t necessarily forced into the marriage as she was allowed to do many things like write to her family in Scotland.

Anne Boleyn: 500 Years of Lies by Hayley Nolan

I am a royalist, and big supporter of Anne Boleyn–on my quest to find out why the late Queen Elizabeth II was labeled with those doubled I’s really compelled me to spend a chunk of my late teens and early twenties researching the first Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the Tudor dynasty.

Once I got my answers, I became a true fan (seems weird to use that here!) of her as a person. And after chickening out multiple times, I finally got my feet on this book last year and it was a very interesting read; everything I learned from 2008 to probably 2016, was basically up in the air because the author Hayley introduced new things that we wouldn’t normal associate with the medieval royals, like instead of Henry VIII being in love with Anne Boleyn and vice versa, you have reasons to believe he might’ve had a mental illness. She describes him being a sociopath, and it was so odd on how fast my point of view flipped because it does sound like a logical answer to his mood swings, he didn’t have any empathy for others, especially his family including his wives and daughters.

For me though, I enjoyed seeing Anne Boleyn as an innocent bystander, because she was. What a king wants, he’ll usually get it. If you said no to the king, you could be accused of treason. I don’t think Anne had a choice in this “love” fest. However, once she was made Queen, she didn’t just sit around with her ladies, she had a couple of jobs to do, and that was continuing of the progress of The Reformation and the care of her baby girl, the future Elizabeth I.

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

In 2020, I discovered this book, and early on I remembered wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into, because I knew it would be gruesome to hear about how each woman was killed, but it also opened a very small hole into their lives, and I think that was the hardest part for me.

Whenever I read books like this, I always feel awful mainly for the loss of the person and their families. I am an empath and so I tend to feel things harder, but I was interested in the reasons why these women were on the streets late at night, when they should have known there was a menacing person killing women in odd ways. I enjoyed their life stories and seeing some of their happy times with their families in the Victorian era, and that’s what I chose to focus my attention on.

999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune Macadam

Another similar book was one I had read a few months ago.

This was about the first bunch of women who were taken to Auschwitz in 1942. These were women between the ages of 17 to 50, from Poland, Slovak, Czech Republic, Hungary to the second concertation camp in Poland, called Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The author Heather had interviewed array of former inmates on their experiences inside the camp. What they were made to do every single day, rain or shine, hot or cold. They were also given very little food, and they were infected by diseases and tests by German doctors. It was hell on earth for these people.

Again, like the The Five, it was full of sadness obviously, but once the camp was liberated in 1945, many of the women made their way home to find their homes and remaining family members, unfortunately many were met with devasting results, but some didn’t lose all of their hope for a future. Survivors would marry other people who were in neighboring camps, and have families, but with this a lot of them wouldn’t talk about their stories at the hands of the Nazis. So, their children and grandchildren were left without knowing about their families before and after World War II ended.

Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson

Rosemary was the older sister of President John F. Kennedy and politicians Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy. Rosemary was born with her disability, as there was a complication when her mother Rose was in labor. I’ve heard many stories of newborns getting stuck and sometimes they can develop mental disabilities afterwards. Rosemary had been affected in some way, and she was learning slower than her siblings. I was struck with the fact that she could had autism, just with what Kate was able to share in the book.

Here was this fairly large, important family, chasing the dream to be a part of America’s greatness: working for the government. You learn quickly that she is a liability to the entire Kennedy “perfect” image, and she was sent off to various schools and her parents wanted to make the best of their situation. One of my favorite parts in the book is when Rose takes her older daughters: Rosemary, Kathleen and Eunice for dresses to wear for meeting the King George V and Queen Mary in 1938. I found this section particularly sweet because she seemed to enjoyed dancing and meeting the king and queen as well.

And then, her father Joe makes the decision for Rosemary to have a lobotomy. At this point in history, and medical practice, a lobotomy was supposed to be a godsend to families in similar situations, to gain back some normalcy and hopefully cure their children from any and all imperfections like a mental illness. This action creates havoc in any progress Rosemary was making in her life, as she was never the same again. The one thing I’d like to point out is that I believe Joe and Rose tried their best in raising Rosemary, but they were too obsessed with what could happen if anybody outside of their bubble knew about Rosemary as a person.

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I love historical, biographical books, especially when the subject is about women. As someone who has never been able to fit in with other girls, I naturally crave the knowledge of these powerful females in history. Although it’s mostly fictional, some feelings and themes are in fact real, like, limited to no rights for women, slavery, becoming a refugee in another country, they all exist throughout our history, and it’s incredible to see these obscure women come to the front so that maybe we can learn something through the author’s words.

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What Passes As Love by Trisha R. Thomas

Do you ever go looking for your next read and see something, read the blurb and decide to leave it be, but is haunted by it afterwards? What Passes as Love was that book for me in 2021. I remember looking at it and thinking it could be the one to draw me out of my mini slump, but I still vetoed it. It took me 12 hours to go back for it and I think I read the whole thing in less than a week. I was that devoted to Dahlia and her story.

Dahlia is a unique individual, as she is treated like a slave on a plantation but is able to live in her owner/father’s house with the rest of the family. Dahlia has endured a lot, and one day she makes a choice that she cannot go back on, and that’s running away from her home. She can get by with it because of the color of her skin, as she doesn’t particularly look most slaves, and this ruse works in her favor when she discovers two gentlemen making their way out of the city, but she is not safe with them. They can still hand her over to authorities, but she vows to never go back there again.

The Duchess by Danielle Steel

It still cracks me up that I was able to read not one, but TWO books while I was staying in a nursing home last October. It was a result of my dad needing to have surgery and my mom and I knew that if I had stayed at home in the days following the surgery, something bad would have happened, so we chose this opinion because it had worked in the past.

I managed to find both Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie and The Duchess by Danielle Steel and I thoroughly enjoyed each of these books, but The Duchess was definitely my favorite as it discusses a woman who was raised as a daughter of a duke, but after her father passed away, she is basically ousted by her older half-brother and as a young woman in the Regency era, there were not a lot of opportunities for her. She didn’t know how to be anything, and that was the point to this opposition. However, she finds a job as a nanny, but it’s what happens after leaving them that things take a sudden turn and becomes a madam at a luxury brothel in France. This was one of two twists to the story that I did NOT see coming but enjoyed nonetheless!

Jane Doe by Victoria Helen Stone

Women are assuming to be modest, meek and obedient; it has been passed down through the generations of what the perfect women is to be, but sometimes we don’t like staying in love with all of these rules, and once that happens, we are called names like crazy. Husbands, brothers, fathers and sons have put their own mothers, sisters in asylums because of their ericaite behaviors.

Victoria Helen Stone’s “Jane Doe” is a modern way of seeing a sociopath as a woman. We are not immune to this condition as many would believe, and honestly, I seriously wonder how long we’ve suffered through it in history. This was the main reason why I wanted to include it into this post.

I have never been interested in suspense thrillers, until I found this book and I’ve been hooked ever since. My mom was very proud of me because I was discovering how good these types of books are, but honestly, I adored the character, Jane. She was so lifelike, and I now find that quality terrifying! Anyways, if you’d like to look inside the mind of a woman, better yet a mentally unstable woman, this is the book for you. However, I need to mention I wasn’t really into the second “Problem Child” but it might for others as Jane is searching for her long-lost niece and they find out they have something else in common than their blood.

Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

I love to watch a lot of Muslim YouTubers like Leena Snoubar of With Love, Leena and her sisters Amanda and Loren. I also like to watch Jaserah from SimplyJaserah and Saima her channel hasn’t been very active lately, but I love watching her past videos too!

Today, is the start of Ramadan, so if you are Islam out there, Ramadan Mubarek! For those of you who do not know, it is a holiday that celebrates fasting and prayers to Allah or God. As someone that enjoys learning about cultures and history, being interested in Ramadan and Eid shouldn’t surprise me or anyone close to me.

Last year I wanted to dictate myself to at least one book that discusses Islam in general, and as I was searching on Kindle Unlimited, I found this little gem and I was so happy. This is a children’s book written in verse about a young girl who has to leave her home and family in Syria, before the war actually started there in 2011. Jude and her mother make it to her uncle’s American home, with her aunt and cousin and she goes to school and live her life in this alien world, and it is very heartbreaking, but it also shows us how children are resilient in their environments.

I know it isn’t about history like Jane Doe, but families have been immigrating to other places all around the world for centuries, so it isn’t a new thing we’re doing, but you get to see the life of a young Syrian girl who would have loved to stay at home, but her parents secretly knew for her safety, it needed to be done and it makes you remember Anne Frank and her life in hiding in Amerstdam in 1942. The reason has never changed, just the people and circumstances.

Queen Boudicca by Melanie Karsak

I talk about Melanie Karsak a lot, but I truly love her books and the characters she creates for her fans. This is a series I don’t normally talk about, even though I actually enjoyed it. I haven’t read the second book yet but I’m hoping to before or after the third and final book comes out this summer.

This follows a young Boudicca before she becomes one of the legendary Queens of ancient Britain. I have heard of Boudicca before, but I didn’t want to know much going into it. I like to start off with a clean slate you know. There are a lot of characters in Princess Boudicca’s life and they are massive and strange, but nothing I haven’t heard before. My favorites were the head priestess Don and healer Ulla. For some odd reason I pictured Yelena of the Northuldra people in Frozen II as Don and I feel she quite fits her as she is a stern and noble woman while Gramma in Moana, was for Ulla because she had that mischief attitude about her.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to get this list out for you sooner, but you have two weeks before the month ends, and I think you’ll find something on my list to inspire you after the month ends. I believe we should celebrate women every day of the year because there’s a lot that we do, and it’s nice to feel proud of who you are on a regular basis, right?

How d you celebrate Women’s History Month? What kind of books would you recommend for this post? Give me your top three in the comments!

Royal Baby | A Sibling for August Brooksbank!

Hello everyone!

I am back for another royal baby post; I bet a lot of you out there were wondering when I’d want to discuss all of the possibilities for the Brooksbank family. Honestly, ever since the announcement came out, I had at least four stuck in my mind. I was going to wait until mid-April to say anything about it, but I really wanted to unleash my thoughts in a post, so I hope you are ready for it today!

When I wrote my first list for when Princess Eugenie was pregnant with August, I went with an artistic and literary style, and it looks like I had the right idea, as it is featured in the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio but August in itself can be a royal twist, as the majority of the Hanoverian royals, used “Augustus” (and “Augusta for girls!) before Queen Victoria and her descendants stopped using it in their children, except for the lines in Prussia, Germany, Lichtenstein, etc.

Every part of August’s name is honored by various family members between the former Princess of York and her common born husband Jack Brooksbank. So, when I started to come up with this list, I paid attention to their family trees, but I also wanted to include some things like their recent move to Portugal last year. What kind of names they would have been introduced there. My final objective was to stay in the lines I used when guessing for August too, so I added some interesting, but trendy British names as well.

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Algernon Christopher Stamp

I recently went through the couple’s family trees. While I was on it, I went back through Sarah Ferguson’s family, and found a few gems, especially Algernon. Algernon Ferguson was the Duchess of York’s grandfather. And like Augustus, it also fell out of favor in the last several years, however, I think it is due to make a comeback as it is so handsome and would go well with Jack’s middle names. I can’t be the only one who thinks August and Algernon as siblings wouldn’t be absolutely adorable, right?

Rafferty Charles Henry

Now let’s say they wanted a totally cute, but laidback type of first name instead. I think Rafferty would be a great gender-neutral contender. I first heard about it back in 2021, at the time I had found like five interesting “R” names, and this was definitely one of my favorites. You could use “Rafe” for a nickname as a child or “Ralph” for an adult sort of name instead, but I find it cute just the way it is.

As for the middle names, I had some issues coming up with anything that would rival to Algernon, but then I thought about the upcoming coronation of Eugene’s uncle, King Charles III. She is still asked to represent the King, Queen consort, and the rest of the Commonweath with her own patrons, so I feel like this would be a nice way to symbolize her love and support than to name her child after him. In the past, Princess Eugenie has had a good relationship with her cousin Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. We don’t know how she and Jack feel about his memoir “Spare” but then again, it isn’t any of our business either; so, they could also add Henry into the mix as well.

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When I was thinking about girl names, I was thoroughly surprised in the fact that I wasn’t pulled into the realm of female royal names. Don’t get me wrong, later on, I made up for it! Anyways, I was thinking of “Willa” at first as it’s not really high in the various charts, but once I started the collecting process that’s when it quickly disappeared from the lineup. Here is what I am thinking about now.

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Isabeau Victoria Helena

The name Isabeau is a very old name, but it has roots within the French royals with Isabeau of Bavaria who was the wife of King Charles VI of France in 1385. Isabeau is a great variation on the more popular Isabel/Isabella/Isobel, and since the princess has a goddaughter by the name of Lady Isabella Windsor, I didn’t think “Isabel” would be a great idea, but with this spelling, it feel like this could allow some of the older royal names like Isabeau to come into the 21st Century. I also thought this would be a great way to showcase her love for her grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth too.

Personally, I would love using “Beau” for a nickname would be lovely against her aunt Beatrice and of course older brother Augie.

Now since I used Jack’s middle names with Algernon, I thought it was only fair to lend Eugenie’s middle names with Isabeau and honestly, I find both to be very bold and regal with the additions of “Victoria” and “Helena” as they are driven by the former Duchess of York’s love of Queen Victoria. I really feel like it would be fitting to honor both of these great queens and familial favorites in the York women.

Phoebe Charlotte Beatriz

Okay, let’s get out of the sophisticated names for a minute and imagined the Brooksbank family using a fairly common name for their daughter. The name “Phoebe” was calling out to me a day after the announcement broke and I took it as a sign obviously. Phoebe is an adorable name and has become a favorite to many families lately and I absolutely love it! It’s not that popular with the US couples, but if the Princess would use it for her first daughter, I could see it being added onto the charts.

I think it’s important to remember that the royals love reusing certain names. The name “Edward” has been used twice within the Queen and Prince Philip’s younger children. The Duke of York (Eugenie’s father) was born as “Andrew Albert Christian Edward” and The Earl of Wessex and Forfar was named “Edward Antony Richard Louis.” Fast forward in time, and we have the similar situation with the name “Louis” when The Prince and Princess of Wales were naming their sons, their first is “George Alexander Louis” and youngest was given “Louis Arthur Charles.”

Another name was shared among cousins as both August Brooksbank and Princess Anne’s daughter Zara and her husband Michael Tindall named their son Lucas. They each have the name “Philip” as part of their middle names as The Duke of Edinburgh had died some months before the the birth of his great-grandsons.

I didn’t mean to spiral down like that, but I wanted to explain why it is somewhat popular for the newest generation of royal babies to be named after someone close to them. And with that being said I believe the name of “Charlotte” will be used as a middle name for the Brooksbank family. It is a very beloved name worldwide, and it’s definitely one of my ultimate favorites, but I thought it would be interesting to see it again amongst the lower branches of the royal family.

I read an article last year, about the Brooksbanks had moved to Portugal as Jack had been offered a job and the entire family went with him. So, I thought about honoring their new home and went with the Portuguese variation of Beatriz for Princess Beatrice. The York sisters are very close, so it was a no-brainer to not include it in the post. To be honest, I thought this way was unique compared to the other “Beatrix” as I believe this to be too popular, but then again August is also a favorite too, so I might be wrong with my assumptions anyway.

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I’ve written over 10 royal baby posts and honestly, I enjoy collecting a bunch of names and seeing how bad or good my guesses are at the end. I am usually wrong, but I keep coming back and creating these posts and I hope anybody that is a fan of the royals or in need of some inspiration for their child’s name, they can check out my other posts and have a hey day with them.

Even though it’s early, do you have any guesses bubbling to the surface? Are you focused on a certain family member or gender? Let me know all of your thoughts in the comments.

The Goodreads Challenge | What I’m Doing For 2023

Hello my friends!

It is time for a brand-new Goodreads Reading Challenge post. Want to learn what I wanted to accomplish with my reading plans for each year? Here are my 2020, 2021, and 2022 posts.

This is my fourth year giving you an insight of what I would like to accomplish for 2023. I actually enjoy doing these types of posts, as it gives all of us (you and me) a chance to write out my intentions for the next 356 days, but let’s get real. there’s no way I will be reading everyday this year. It’s cool for when it happens in a whole month, but after a while it kind of loses its luster.

What is my annual goal?

Just before Christmas, I had a family friend ask me about what my goal would be, and I’m sure everyone wants to know as well. I’ve kept a fairly hush-hush about it; last year I wasn’t totally 100% certain I would actually make it to 40 books, mainly because I tend to forget to factor in the holiday festivities in November and December. They tend to take a lot of my energy and the last thing I usually want to do is read a whole book.

However, I made it well passed 40, I ended up with 54 books. I find it a good thing to not only show myself that I can get it done, but I can surpass the initial goal too. You always hope it can happen, but life can throw you a curveball here and there and everything can take a backseat.

So, for 2023, I am hoping to get through 50 books, but also not discriminating towards its size. I think that’s another thing to keep in mind, the term “book” doesn’t mean you have to read something that’s over 300+ pages. I count any format, whether it’s a novel, short story or audiobook.

What about other certain challenges?

In a way to see if I could handle some pressure in 2022, I decided I wanted to do two challenges. My overall goal was to hit 40 books, mainly having two equal sides of twenty books; I had 20 books of normal titles and 20 more that were focused on classics or had become a film or TV adaption. For the most part, being able to do this was easy, my only real issue was time. I flew passed the first 20 books, but I only managed to reach 19 books on the other list.

For my first time doing something like this, I am very pleased with myself. I figured I would only get to five books, so this was really cool to see at the end of the year. It was fun and interesting to see how much I would enjoy out of these classics, because I tried to stay in and around classics like Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I wasn’t a bookworm as a child, reading wasn’t fun for me in school so to be able to rediscover some of these books really opened my eyes on certain parts of literature.

And with that being said, I will continue with this challenge, and I will definitely put each book into my blue journal where I have the others listed with their mini reviews. This time though, I’m not giving myself a limit on a number, I just want to focus on children’s books, middle grade and other classics for that specific goal.

What do I hope to discover this year?

I want to read more or less the same of the books I’ve been into lately, but I would like to include more of children’s books, mainly fairy tales. I’ve already crossed off three of them; two were written by Hans Christian Anderson, The Snow Queen and Thumbelina and my first story by one of the Grimm brothers: Cinderella by Wilhelm Grimm.

I would love to get out of the historical fiction books sometime, although I’m in no rush to make this happen. I’ve just completed my first of the year, which the review will hopefully come out on Friday, and I’d finish my second if I knew it wouldn’t possibly ruin what could be featured in Melanie Karsak’s final book in The Shadows of Valhalla series. I recently just found a sleuth of Viking Sagas on Kindle Unlimited, and it’s been interesting to see the “origins” of both Hervor of The Road to Valhalla series and Ervie’s section. So, at the moment, I am holding off on it until I can get my toes on the Gambit of Swords this spring.

Speaking of Melanie’s books, I think this might be the year I decide to dive into William Speakeare’s Macbeth as it was part of the original story behind her Celtic Blood series. I know it may not exactly discuss Lady Macbeth as much as Highland Vengeance and Highland Queen, but I might understand the character Macbeth a bit more, at least that is my hope for it. I am prepared for the poetry part of the story, the Viking Sagas are mostly written in verse anyways, so I should be fine on that end, but I am thinking of listening to the audiobook instead of actually reading it.

For Christmas, I did get a large clutch of books – ones bought by family and others I got myself, so I am really going to try to dive into those books, especially the physical as I tend to ignore those unless I am at my mom’s work apparently…

Other than that, I am pretty much open to everything else. If you want to keep up with my overall goal or the books I read this year, you can find me on Goodreads, click here.

What about you, what kind of books do you hope to get into for 2023? And of course, what is your ultimate goal for the new year?

Book Review: “Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen: The Story of Elizabeth of York” by Samantha Wilcoxson

Hello!

I was on my Instagram stories the other day, and as I was passing through others, I saw a very small bit of Samantha Wilcoxson’s; sharing that the first book of her Plantagenet Embers series, The Story of Elizabeth of York was free for that day. In my mind, I thought it would be just like my other ‘freebies’ and store it for a later date once it was fully downloaded, but I didn’t wait to start it. I think I may have lasted about 12 hours total, which wasn’t a surprise at all. I have a strong weakness for historical fiction, especially if they discuss the Tudor dynasty.

In the midst of reading this book, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had died, and this story about another Queen Elizabeth (she was a Queen Consort, not Regent!) really helped me heal through the news of her death. I found these two women to have a similar story, they were not expected to ascend to their positions, as Elizabeth II’s father was the brother of the disgrace Edward VIII, so his younger brother Prince Albert, The Duke of York became King George VI in 1936, where his wife Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyons would later become referred as “Elizabeth, The Queen Mother” as their first daughter Princess Elizabeth would eventually be title Queen Elizabeth II. She obviously didn’t want to overshadow her daughter’s own name when she inherited the throne in 1952.

For anyone out there who would like to explore the story of Elizabeth of York’s story as a nonfiction, I definitely recommend Elizabeth of York: A Tudor Queen and Her World by Alison Weir, but if you should probably read something about her mother, The Dowager Queen of Edward IV and I suggest Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower by David Baldwin.

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She was the mother of Henry VIII and wife of Henry VII, but who was Elizabeth of York? Raised as the precious oldest child of Edward IV, Elizabeth had every reason to expect a bright future until Edward died, and her life fell apart.

When Elizabeth’s uncle became Richard III, she was forced to choose sides. Should she trust her father’s brother and most loyal supporter or honor the betrothal that her mother has made for her to her family’s enemy, Henry Tudor?

The choice was made for her on the field at Bosworth, and Elizabeth the Plantagenet princess became the first Tudor queen.

Did Elizabeth find happiness with Henry? Did she ever discover the truth about her missing brothers, who became better known as the Princes in the Tower?

Lose yourself in Elizabeth’s world in Plantagenet Princess, Tudor Queen.

taken from Goodreads.

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I find Elizabeth of York so fascinating! On one foot, she was born of Plantagenet blood, on the side with the “White Rose” full of Yorkists, with her father Edward VI at the head of the family and kingdom, with his common wife Elizabeth Woodville. She was their first child, and even though her parents wished for her to be a boy, she was still loved and could be a way to tighter alliances in the future of Edward’s reign, and she was brothel to a few people, the one Samantha discusses in the book was Louis, the Dauphin of France.

Elizabeth still wasn’t sure that she was ready for what she must face, but she had been given little choice.

Bess, as she was referred in the book, is a very important person in the aftermath of the Wars of The Roses, After the disappearances of her younger brothers and heirs to the throne, she has the unlucky advantage of becoming the wife to the Red Rose, the Lancastrian Henry Tudor. However, we see her in the presence of her uncle Richard’s eye at the start of the story and honestly, this arrangement could have worked, at this time she was considered a bastard, plus it wasn’t uncommon for royals to marry into their own family lines, I mean, just look into the lives of the Hapsburgs!

Another part of this though, Bess and her sister Cecily try to establish contact with their brothers who they assume are still alive and well somewhere in the country, away from court life in the thick of Richard’s reign. When Henry Tudor is proclaimed king, he and Elizabeth are married, and she gives birth to Prince Arthur, and they deal with the pretenders of the crown. Despite the fact there isn’t much about the real “Bess” opinions about politics as she wanted to be a submissive wife–the total opposite of her mother by the way!–I wonder what she really thought about these attempts of stripping her husband and son’s titles away. As a reader, it’s heartbreaking to try to decipher between her loyalty of her family, and if these men were in fact her brothers. I’m still reeling over the last paragraph of the book because it annoyed and stunned me at the same time.

The rose was white in the center and blood-red at the edges of the petals. A white York rose dipped in Lancastrian blood.

Back in 2020, I had read the second book of this series, Faithful Traitor, it was about Lady Margaret Pole, daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (who was Edward IV and Richard III’s brother and Lady Isabel Neville oldest child, and this one gives you more of an insight into the events that happen after Bess has passed away.

I am currently reading the third and final book Queen of Martyrs which is about Queen Mary I’s rise to the throne. Once I’m finished with it though, I will not be reading the novellas that go along with the other books in the series–I’ve tried to get through Once a Queen: The Story of Elizabeth Woodville and Prince of York: The Story of Reginald Pole, twice so I’ve put them in my DNF shelf (did not finish) on Goodreads. However, I do have one other book by another author on my list that discusses this time frame but on the point of view of the Lancastrian side, as it follows Lady Margaret Beaufort and her son, the first Tudor king, Henry VII. I’m aiming to get a review out towards the end of October, but we’ll see what really happens there.

Have you read “Once a Queen: The Story of Elizabeth of York” or any of the other books I’ve listed above? If you have, please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Becoming An Aunt…. Again!

Hello there!

I did not think I would ever write that sentence “becoming an aunt” because my sister was adamant about how she wasn’t going to have any more children after the birth of my nephew four years ago. It’s definitely been a long time since those days, and we need to discuss some things before we get too involved into this post.

Sadly, my sister and brother-in-law separated and eventually divorced in 2020, they just grew apart as some couples do and we wish nothing but the best for them. We still love Brandon and see him from time to time, the most recent was when Nolan was playing T-Ball back in mid-May, as he helped coach his team a little bit, I always felt bad for when he was out on the field with Nolan and his little teammate directing their next movements.

My sister had started dating last fall, and we got to meet her boyfriend Zach (who is now her husband!) on Christmas. They didn’t have the kids that day, so it was a bit awkward to see them hanging outside in like 75 degree weather! I say “kids” because Zach also has a four-year-old son, named Isaiah, and he is literally the splitting image of his daddy. It’s still weird that I have also gained a second nephew through this part. I am happy to say Nolan and Isaiah are the best of friends, Nolan considers him his “brother” which he proclaimed one afternoon sitting at the table with us, and we almost started crying because it was so adorable to say something like that!

SURPRISE!

And then, January came around, and everyone was thrown for a loop when my sister announced to us, she was pregnant. Since her pregnancy with Nolan and everything that happened afterwards went a little topsy-turvey, we just assumed she couldn’t get or even wanted to become pregnant again, so this was a surprise for some of us. I wasn’t too shocked by the news honestly, although I didn’t expect it at all! I had respected her thoughts on not adding a sibling for Nolan in the future. Although this is a totally different pregnancy, it hasn’t been an easy one either. She’s been having contractions since late February I think, which is what happened last time. She’s been put on bed rest, monitoring her heart rate, blood sugar, etc. all throughout the ordeal.

BOY OR GIRL?

Towards the start of spring, we were very anxious to learn the sex of the baby. Despite the similarities between each pregnancy, there has been some odd things happen with this one. She has a better appetite in the beginning, but she’s also had a lot of heartburn too. This was sign number one that we could expect a girl, and it didn’t really settle until she began hearing the heartbeat early on and it was very fast, which is another telling point for when mothers are expecting a little girl, so we all called it around 16 weeks it would be a girl and we were right. They will be welcoming a baby girl in the fall.

Now, let’s discuss what her name will be, but first we have to go back to February and March, because at this time we still didn’t know the gender so there were many name combinations passed back and forth between the early months. I think I might save her actual name until she is finally here and do a whole post about the labor, delivery, and bonding with the boys. However, I will tell you the boy names that were in the running though, because I seriously doubt they will ever be used with them; never say never though!

THE NAMING PROCESS

Anyways, they had a fairly large group of names in the beginning.

After the second or third doctor’s appointment, they started to think of certain names, and they had a boy combination from the start and it didn’t really change that much, the first name never really went away, they still enjoyed the full name but thought using part of it as a good nickname. They were very attached to Jaxon Emery, and honestly, I was thoroughly impressed with this. I mean, I’m the namer in the family and yet I wasn’t asked for assistance!

We were kind of surprised that my sister wouldn’t want to use our papaw’s name: David. She explained they weren’t going to honor anyone because both Nolan and Isaiah have their fathers’ middle names. I understood this but yet it was a bit of a bummer to leave him out of this child’s name. Well, obviously, I wasn’t the only one who agreed with me on this and within a few weeks later they switched everything to Jax Morgan. We actually approved of this! The name Morgan was our papaw’s middle and his mother’s maiden name, it was on the list while she was pregnant with Nolan too, but for a little girl instead.

Speaking of girl names, this was another pairing they had picked out in the early days. They had watched the show Euporia when the second season had begun back in late January, and they were thinking of using Rue, but they had only switched it when they decided it was too close to our dog name’s which is Rumer. Later on, they were talking about Remy Mae, and I was not a huge fan of it. I mainly thought of Remy’s popularity in general, and that’s why I enjoyed Nolan so much because it hadn’t exploded in the naming charts, of course it did surge a bit after he was born, but I hardly ever see it now! For a solid four months they were set with it and I just hated it. I was fine with “Mae” as that is one of my sister’s middle names and another name that is huge on both sides of our families too, so it just seemed likely to come up than any other name, and it’s the only one that had stuck throughout this pregnancy and it does fit well with her first, so I can’t wait to see how much she manages it in the future.

NOW WE WAIT…

As I said in the beginning of the post, Blondie has had contractions all throughout this pregnancy, but we are hoping for little miss sweet pea will keep inside the womb a bit longer. Once my sister makes it to around 32-36 weeks, her doctor will just let her go on with the early labor like she did with Nolan. I was also an early bird, but I was born three months in advance. We still don’t know why I wanted to break out so eagerly–hell, even I don’t know the answer to that question! We just hope she will be content, just a tad bit longer..

I do really want to meet this little babe and teach her the same things I taught her big brother, but I know the longer she keeps in the den the stronger she will be out here. Since she will have a pair of brothers going into preschool this year, she’s going to need all of the good fortune around her and mommy too. The boys are very excited to meet her, Nolan has been really curious of her while in Blondie’s belly. He’s already said he won’t change any dirty diapers though! Apparently, Zach will be in charge of that department! It’s going to be interesting to see how they react when she gets her first poopy diaper too…

I think I will wait until she is finally here to give you another update and tell you her name as well once she’s born and we’ve adjusted to the chaos of having a baby around again. Now if you’re on my Instagram, you might get a little treat as I may announce her welcome to the world on there. If you can, please send my sister and the baby some positive thoughts and prayers starting in early September to help ease the labor and delivery process for everyone involved.

Do you have any guesses as to what her name will be? Also, if you know, please don’t ruin the surprise of others commenting on this post.